


we can run forever (if forever is what's in store)

by badasskorra



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Falling In Love, First Meetings, Friends to Lovers, Road Trips, Time Loop, mentioned underage drinking, uhhh forget everything you kno abt canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 13:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14137365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badasskorra/pseuds/badasskorra
Summary: (karolina's tired of always being seen as just another pretty face, tired of expectations, tired of being the perfect daughter, as if she's just a lifeless toy to show around, instead of an actual person.sometimes, she just wants to be.sometimes- sometimes she just wants to run away, away, away.)or, karolina and nico relive the same monday again and again and again, and neither of them know how to break the loop (though, maybe, neither of them actually want to)





	we can run forever (if forever is what's in store)

**Author's Note:**

> title from mikky ekko's time ;; this fic took me like. a whole month bc i was never sure where i wanted this to go ghfdksk anyway. trish gave me the go to post this so i hope its not too much of a mess, enjoy
> 
> also to pey happy birthday i lov you even tho you never fuckin check your messages you noodle

despite what others believe, despite her constant smiling and cheery attitude, karolina dean, much like everyone else, isn't actually always happy.

sometimes, karolina doesn't feel 'blessed'.

sometimes, karolina just feels  _tired_.

she's tired of always being seen as 'the church girl', as just another pretty face, tired of trying to satisfy the expectations that come with it, tired of the looks she gets in the school hallways, tired of being the perfect daughter, as if she's just a pawn, a lifeless toy to show around, instead of an actual person.

sometimes, she just wants to  _be_.

sometimes- sometimes she just wants to run away, away, away.

  
karolina is used to keeping her emotions in check, but one day, she  _snaps._

her parents drag her to yet another one of their fancy galas, and maybe she could have endured another night of "you're so pretty", "you must be so proud of your parents", "are you going to follow in your mom's footsteps", until-

until her dad approaches her, a young man following close behind. she knows what he's going to say before he opens his mouth.

scott, he says his name is, the son of some family friends and  _a very charming guy, i'm sure you'll get along just fine. maybe too fine,_  he finishes off with a wink and a laugh and leaves them to go join her mother.

and karolina- karolina is  _furious_.

she puts on a fake smile, tries to play nice, but by the time scott is on his third rant about how student athletes have it so bad she's ready to snap his neck.

scott is tall, dark and handsome and karolina thinks other girls would probably love him; other girls who aren't her, other girls who aren't very pointedly gay.

karolina lets her parents drag her to galas and show her off , but she draws the line at meddling with her personal life.

and so, the next morning, still fuming with anger from the previous night, karolina does something only a seventeen years old hormonal teenager with years of repressed rebellion would do.

she runs away.

 

well, she doesn't run away, per se, because as angry as she is, she actually loves her parents and wants to graduate, but she does want to get away, at least for a day. so, she wakes up earlier, puts on a hoodie, grabs her backpack and leaves the house before her parents can wake up and stop her.

she goes to the bus stop and gets on the first bus her eyes land on. it's relatively empty, only the driver and a handful of passengers - a middle-aged man, a woman who keeps checking her phone as if expecting a call, a boy who looks seconds away from falling asleep, and a girl dressed in all black. karolina heads to the back seats, pulling her hood closer to her face and avoiding eye contact, lest somebody recognizes her.

another reason for her not actually running away is exactly that - their family is rich and famous. one minute they would declare karolina missing and the next her parents would be thanking some random stranger for finding their dear daughter. and the next she would be grounded for life.

not that she's going to escape the grounded part anyway, but at least she'd have a day all on her own before she gets locked up.

karolina digs out her phone to check the time and whether she has any missed calls - aka, whether the school has already contacted her parents about her playing truancy. the time is 6.49am which means the first class hasn't even started yet. karolina sighs, pocketing her phone, and sags against the seat, closing her eyes.

 

the day is well into the morning by the time they reach their final destination - fresno, a sunny city not much different from los angeles. the best little city in usa, the big welcoming sign overhead says. if karolina doesn't see her parents for the entire day then she'd be inclined to agree.

it's just her and the other girl, now, the other passengers having gotten off a few stops back. but, before karolina can worry about the girl looking in her direction, she is out of the bus in a flash.

'that makes two of us then.'

karolina gets up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder, and steps out.

just as expected of california, it's scorching heat outside. karolina kind of regrets putting on that hoodie.

she digs around her jeans' pockets and finds a few crumpled dollar bills, just enough for coffee and breakfast. she has more in her backpack, though, so she's not too worried about a ticket back.

and that's how her whole day goes - walking around the bustling streets of fresno, a bagel in hand, her dead phone tucked in the back pocket of her jeans, her mind free of worries for once.

and when night falls and she starts heading back to the bus station, something makes her do a turn in the opposite direction. something - an unknown force, the smell of homemade dinner, her feet, her own  _heart_.

she rents a hotel room instead.

  
karolina wakes up to her alarm blaring in her ear, and reaches out blindingly, thinking she'd forgotten to turn it off last night. it's when she's holding her phone close to her face, that she springs upright, the date glaring right back at her. 15th april, monday.  _monday_.

she tries to suppress the panic rising in her chest, blaming her phone dying yesterday and supposedly messing up the time and date after it was restarted. it's probably not even 6am right now. that would explain why she feels like she's slept only three hours.

it's at that time, though, that she looks around the room and notices her surroundings. this is not the hotel room she rented last night. the room she's currently in looks very much alike to the one she has, back in la.

karolina feels like crying.

that's how her parents find her, half an hour or so later, staring unblinkingly at the floor, her phone clutched tightly in her hand.

and when her father begins to apologize for trying to set her up with scott at the gala the previous night, karolina  _really_  feels like crying, only this time she lets the tears fall.

(she blames her overreaction on exhaustion, later.)

during breakfast, her parents walk around her as if on eggshells, as if expecting her to have another breakdown in midst eating her cereal. she can't really blame them.

  
karolina goes to school, manages to stay awake throughout biology and not get poisoned by the lunch they're served in the cafeteria, and the entire day she starts to doubt her trip to 'the best little city in the usa' actually happened.

by the time she goes home she's decided she dreamt her little stunt, that it was only a plot of her imagination, something she wishes she did after getting angry at her parents. in a way, she's glad she didn't actually run away. glad she won't be getting in trouble for doing something so reckless, something so not  _karolina_.

(a part of her wishes she did.)

  
when the next morning she wakes up to the words 15th april, monday staring back at her, karolina throws her phone across the room.

 

//

 

it takes three more mondays before karolina goes back to that bus stop. she takes her school bag and her phone - which is now intact, and if karolina wasn't sure about the joke the universe is playing on her, she is now - and leaves the house before her parents wake up.

maybe going to fresno again is what will break the loop and set time back to normal again. maybe. or maybe not.

one way to find out.

the passengers are the same ones from last time and karolina can't help but wonder whether they remember all the mondays or if their memory, like her phone, is being reset by time come midnight.

then she notices  _her_ , the girl in black.

she vaguely remembers seeing her the first time she tried to pull this stunt, but in her trying not to get recognized she didn't pay much attention to her surroundings.

there's something awfully familiar about her, gnawing at karolina's mind, but she can't think of a single time she's seen her other than the other day on this same bus so she stores the feeling for later.

the girl is gorgeous, karolina thinks instantly. wearing a leather jacket with her face covered in heavy makeup, a warning 'keep away' as if written all over her, she's the polar opposite of karolina's entire sunny, pastel self. karolina feels  _captivated_.

the mystery bus girl is also wearing a pair of heart-shaped shades which hide her eyes and karolina doesn't realise she's been looking back the entire time until the girl raises an eyebrow in question.

karolina looks away, face hot.

not two seconds later she feels somebody sit on the seat next to her.

"you were here five days ago." it's not a question.

and if karolina thought her appearance was mesmerizing then she falls in love with her voice right then. she thinks she could listen to her talk for the rest of her miserable life and never tire of it; she thinks she could read her out a mcdonald's menu and karolina would think it a poem.

then, she realises she ought to say something instead of just sit there and gape like a fish.

"i don't think so?" she says, flustered, doesn't know why she phrased it like a question. "maybe you're mistaking me for someone else?"

"i'm pretty sure it was you. hard to miss a face like yours," the girl replies, tilting her head.

karolina is used to compliments, she's been called pretty all her life, but this is different. this isn't a 'it's hard to miss such a  _pretty_  face like yours'; this is a 'it's hard to miss a face like yours because it's plastered on every surface of this city'.

karolina laughs, or at least tries to, but it comes out dry. "this is my first time using the bus so i think you're mistaking me for some billboard."

"no, i'm certain i saw you here, right in  _that_  seat, five days ago."

"and i'm telling you it couldn't have been me, unless..."

unless.

but it can't be.

can it?

is she not the only one stuck here?

the girl's taken off her sunglasses by this point and is looking at her with wide eyes so maybe it's not that wild of a theory after all.

 

( "oh hey, i forgot to ask you your name."

"nico. nico minoru. and you are..? wait, how was it... karla danvers?"

"very funny."

"i know, i'm a comedian." )

  
"i take it this isn't your first monday," karolina asks, later.

nico turns to her. "i've been alive for seventeen years, i've had plenty of mondays."

karolina rolls her eyes and says, "you know what i meant."

nico sighs. "yeah. yeah, it isn't."

"great. so, what do we do now?"

 

//

 

( karolina is not pouting. she is angry but she is also a grown girl of six years and big girls don't pout.

it's a saturday and they have guests over, some friends' of her parents', currently dining on the big table in the other side of the room while karolina sits on the kids table with their kid - a girl karolina's age, whose name she doesn't know nor did she ask because she's too busy being angry and not pouting.

it's a saturday and gert, a classmate of hers, had invited her over for a sleepover but her parents had refused because of the aforementioned guests' coming. thus, the pouting.

had she paid more attention, though, karolina would have noticed that the other girl wasn't in her best spirits either.

just then karolina's mom approaches them, a smile on her face. "how are you, girls? enjoying the food?" she asks as she tilts her head towards karolina's table mate. the girl smiles back and nods, but doesn't say anything.

her mom turns to her then and frowns. "why aren't you eating, sweetheart?"

"i'm not hungry," karolina replies not looking up from the table top.

"karolina, you haven't eaten anything since lunch."

"not hungry."

she hears her mother sigh and walk away.

after a few minutes of silence, karolina hears shifting on her side and then, "wanna see my new my little pony dolls?"

and that's how it starts.

later, the little girl - nico - tells her she didn't want to come either because she wanted to go out with her big sister and her friends but they didn't let her because she is 'too young'.

"i'm six! i'm not a little kid!" nico argues and karolina can't help but nod along because, really, they're grown ups now, they should even be allowed on The Big Table.

in the end, spending the night at home isn't as bad as she thought. )

 

//

 

they go for coffee, in the end. karolina gets black and nico orders some sugary monstrosity that barely contains any actual caffeine.

to an outsider it probably looks like they're just two normal teenagers who skipped school in favor of spending the day in each other's company, and not two strangers who are stuck in some weird limbo of reliving a day that keeps resetting itself.

in the time they spent at the cafe karolina finds her eyes drifting towards nico more often than not - justifies it to herself as trying to figure out why she feels like she knows her, but she averts her gaze every time, before the other girl can catch her staring. nico still does, though, a barely-there smirk on her dark painted lips, and karolina feels a weird thrill run through her, every time.

thinks, if time were to reset itself that night, if they were to forget they met at all, she wants to remember nico's smile.

 

//

 

time keeps resetting itself and they keep meeting at that bus station, every morning.

 

again and again and again.

 

//

 

monday fifteen they board a plane just to see how far they can go but in the end it turns out the long flight exhausts them too much and they both end up falling asleep immediately after entering the hotel room they rented for the night.

/

monday twenty three nico gets a lip piercing and karolina feels two seconds away from combusting on the spot.

/

monday twenty nine they go all the way to new york because karolina heard a classmate say they had the best pancakes.

/

monday thirty one karolina nearly dies from chocking on the coffee nico brought her because she laughed too hard at something the other girl said, spilling half of the cup's contents on her shirt.

/

monday thirty five they pretend to be a couple to get free cake because one of the cafes in the city they visit that day has a special discount because its owner got engaged.

/

monday thirty eight they get shit-faced at two pm because they have nothing better to do (since both of them have parents who are loaded and are able to take tours around the continent every day, traveling kind of loses its novelty) and karolina is glad time will reset itself in a few hours because she doesn't want to know what a hangover after so many glasses of vodka feels like.

 

//

  
  
one monday they steal a car.

they set off, no destination, no plan, just them and the road. karolina volunteers to be the first one behind the wheel, being the only one between them with a driver's license. they get ice coffee and some snacks from the first gas station they pass, karolina looking mildly disgusted with the soggy and sad excuse of a sandwich the cashier gives her.

karolina fastens her seatbelt, while nico drops into the passenger seat, feet on the board.

"where to now, boss?" karolina asks, looking over.

"wherever the wind takes us!" nico declares, dramatically waving her arm around, and karolina snickers.

karolina starts the car.

  
they drive in silence, for a while, until nico hmmphs in annoyance, reaching out and turning on the radio. when the first notes of journey's  _don't stop believin'_  fill the car karolina feels like laughing. when nico starts belting out the lyrics, looking at her all the while, karolina does let out a snort but it isn't long before she joins in the off-key sing along.

this is nice, karolina thinks, and looks over at nico who's currently singing her heart out, the afternoon sunshine outlining her in an orange glow, almost as if she is otherworldly, ethereal.

this is really, really nice.

 

//

  
( and this is how it ends:

"dad, why are we packing everything? how long will we be gone? i promised nico to go over her house when we came back so she could show me her new doll! she said you could dye her hair!"

her dad has that look in his eyes, something not unlike pity, and really, that's the first sign.

"hey baby, didn't mommy tell you? she got a big promotion at work but it's in a different city-"

"is she leaving us?" karolina interrupts, distress coloring her voice.

her dad shakes his head, one corner of his mouth upturned in half a smile, but there's something sad in it. "no, sweetie, don't worry." but before karolina can so much as sigh in relief, he continues. "we're all going."

everything is a blur, after that. karolina starts crying, her dad trying to comfort her, when her mom walks in the room and reaches out to hug her but karolina is pulling away and out of the room.

she locks herself in her bedroom, that night, and doesn't leave even for dinner.

they leave for los angeles three days later. )

 

//

 

somewhere between stealing cars, singing off key, and fighting for the last slice of pizza, karolina finds herself falling in love.

it's monday number forty, or fifty four, or maybe even one hundred she's lost count, and they are sitting in a cafe, in la, eating ice cream.

karolina actually went to school that morning, having woken up a few very significant minutes later and not been able to escape her parents, and after her dad drove her there, she just- stayed. she's almost missed school. almost.

she goes to the bus stop after classes, not expecting to see nico there, yet hoping, and is pleasantly surprised with the sight of nico minoru petting a stray cat, her mouth curved in a soft smile, and karolina somehow feels like she's intruding. nico looks up then, and for a second her face lights up before she scolds her features into a frown.

karolina smiles at her guiltily and waves. nico rolls her eyes but the frown is gone.

  
karolina looks at nico, now, her hair tied up in a messy bun, a few strands falling out and framing her face, with ice cream smeared on the corners of her mouth, and thinks, oh, so this is what that warm feeling is.

love.

and it should probably come as a bigger surprise, falling in love with a stranger she met only a few (hours) months ago, but maybe not. not really.

because, of course. of course she'd fall in love with this hurricane of a girl, with her bright eyes and even brighter smiles. of course she'd fall in love with her stubbornness and quick wit; with her dark makeup and awful singing. with the warm hand that reaches out for hers, sometimes, when they're walking.

nico, who looks like an enigma, yet is easy to read if you only looked; nico, who unexpectedly likes to crack bad jokes from time to time, which make karolina laugh anyway; nico, who acts as if agreeing to karolina's impromptu ideas is bringing her utmost pain, and ends up having fun; nico, who is actually really smart, and throws facts like offhand comments; nico, who doesn't like to talk about her family much, but ended up rambling about her sister for hours that day they went to the beach.

maybe she's been in love with nico all this time and has just now made sense of the tingling feeling in her chest.

and karolina- karolina feels giddy.

everything in the cafe is quiet, until: "is there something on my face, you're staring."

karolina wants to laugh or maybe lean forward and kiss her. instead, she smiles and taps the side of her mouth.

the first time karolina met her, she thought she seemed familiar, like a song you've never heard before, yet feel like you know all the words to. but that's the thing, isn't it, karolina thinks. she has heard this song before.

thinks, she has known nico before.

remembers, a little girl with long dark hair and a big smile on her face.

remembers, sharing her dolls with that little girl and building blanket forts.

remembers, an empty house and crying in her mother's arms.

so maybe karolina has heard this song before, but she finds herself messing up the words. that one had a different melody, different lyrics. she wants to listen to the new version.

( "did you know?"

"know what?"

"that we've met before."

"i- yeah. yes, i did."

"is that why you came back, every day, while i was gone?"

"i was obviously trying to run away from home, mind you.

but maybe that was part of the reason too." )

"you looked familiar," nico tells her as they leave the cafe. "i wanted to find out why."

 

//

 

karolina wakes up with a weird feeling of determination set in her chest.

it's been months and they're still stuck in this  _fucking_  time loop and while all these days spent alongside nico are fun and good, she doesn't want to spend however long the rest of her life is stuck in the same day, everything still but her.

she knows there's something she's not doing right; something missing; the one thing to end the loop. but then, she thinks, maybe she doesn't want the loop to end. she's safe here. yes, she's reliving the same day again and again and again but if the loop were to break she'd be back in the church with her parents being the picture perfect daughter, and as long as she is here, she's free.

thinks, what if breaking the loop breaks them? what if breaking the loop means forgetting?

but she doesn't dwell on these thoughts, lest she loses her determination, instead she thinks back to her revelation the previous day, or well, loop, back to putting a name to the warm feeling at the thought of nico, back to figuring out why that stranger on the bus didn't feel like a stranger at all, and then thinks of every bedtime story she's heard as a kid, and gets an idea, albeit dumb.

finding out she's in love with her childhood best friend might have not broken the curse but maybe  _kissing_  her would.

it's always worked in fairytales, and with every monday this starts to feel more and more like one, so it wouldn't hurt to try, right?

right.

karolina doesn't realize she left the house in her pink barbie pajamas until she arrives at the bus stop. she doesn't find it in herself to care.

  
it takes nico almost an hour to get there and karolina becomes more and more anxious by the minute, biting her lip and jiggling her leg furiously.

she's ready to storm to nico's house herself to see what's taking the girl so long when nico finally shows up.

nico approaches at a leisure pace, a smile beginning to form on her lips when she notices karolina; a smile which soon transforms into a laugh when she notices her  _pajamas_.

but karolina doesn't care about that, doesn't have the time to care about that. she walks over to nico in two long strides, and before her nerves get the better of her, leans forward and  _kisses_  her.

(she hadn't noticed how much smaller nico was compared to karolina's height until now. it's endearing.)

karolina thinks, this is it.

thinks, this isn't her first kiss, not even her first kiss with a girl, yet it is special in its own way.

it's a first all on its own, her first kiss with  _nico_.

maybe, hopefully, the first of many.

maybe, hopefully, it's the kiss that will get her life back to normal.

or maybe it won't.

but this is it.

karolina pulls away, doesn't dare open her eyes, and says, "sorry, i've just wanted to do this for a long time."

she feels nico's breath ghost over her chin when she speaks and suppresses a shiver. "it's okay. so did i."

this makes her open her eyes. nico is looking up at her, a bright grin - brighter than any before, brighter than the sun shining down on them right now - lighting up her face.

and karolina  _knows_ , this is it.

( "what took you so long? i was ready to come get you myself."

"but i came no later than our usual meeting time? it's just six three right now?"

and okay maybe her pajamas wasn't the only thing she missed. )

 

//

 

the next morning she wakes up, the date says 16th april, tuesday.

 

//

 

_there's time_ , karolina thinks as she leaves the house at 6 o'clock,  _classes start at seven_.

she makes her way to the bus stop and sits on a bench, and waits.

it's not even three minutes later that she spots a familiar face. she can't help the grin that takes over her features or her feet from rushing to meet the other girl in the middle.

"hey," nico says, trying to calm her breathing, an almost shy smile on her face.

"hey yourself," karolina replies and it sounds like a beginning.

( "why do you think this happened? like, to us, of all people?" nico asks, later.

karolina thinks for a minute; thinks of the past months, thinks of the years they spent together, when they were only little kids.

says, "i guess this was the universe's way of giving us a chance to get it right." )


End file.
